Improvement in cutting-gages



S. ELLIOTT. Cutting Gages.

No. 207,597. Patented Sept 3,1878.

N PETERS, PHQTO-UTQOGRAPHER, Wwmmou. D C.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE;

STERLING ELLIOTT, or CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

IMPROVEMENT IN CUTTING-GAGES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 207,597, dated September 3, 1878; application filed May 11, 1878.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, STERLING ELLIOTT, of the city of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and Improved Device for Cutting Belt-Laces; and Ihereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, of which Figure 1 is a side view of my device; Fig.

' 2, a top view of the same in operation; and

Fig. 3, an end view.

The object of my invention is to produce a cheap and simple contrivance by means of which belt-laces, shoe-laces, and narrow strips of leather for other purposes, of any desired breadth, (within certain limits,) may be out from a strip or sheet of soft leather with great ease and rapidity and with perfect straightness and accuracy.

To this end my invention consists, first, in securing the knife to the body of the device in a position inclined to the plane of the leather in its passage through, whereby a draw-cut is effected, and in having the sharp edge of the knife, near its upper or outer end, in fixed contact with a rigid guide, of sufficient breadth to form a short angle with the edge of the blade, thu s holding the leather down to the same, and rendering a through out incidental to the passage of the leather; secondly, in combining with the knife and guide so arranged upon the body an adjustable gage,

whereby the strips may he graduated to anydesired breadth within its limits; and, thirdly, in combining with a device embracing all the foregoing features a ring at the rear end to slip on the finger, thus giving firmness to the grasp, all as hereinafter more fully set forth.

Referring to the drawings, A is the body, provided with the ring a, and 13 the knife, fastened to the side of the body A, and thence projecting upward and outward in an oblique direction past the bar or guide (J, with whichit comes in contact. This guide is here shown in the form of an elongated flange, extending across the body A at a sufficient height above the same to permit the strip of leather -to pass between the two but I do not limit myself to any particular form, provided the described effects are produced. Just back of the bar 0 is the adjustable gage D, of the form usual for such purposes.

The operation consists simply in pressing the corner of the leather into the angle formed by the guide and the knife, and then drawing it along, using care to keep the edge against the gage, the device being held in the right hand, with, preferably, the middle finger through the ring, and the leather in the left. The extremities of the laces may readily be trimmed to a point afterward on the blade of the device.

The drawing shows the form of construction which I prefer to employ; but it is obvious that, if for any reason desirable, the knife might incline downward instead of upward, and the gage and guide be placed below instead of above, without constituting a material departure from my invention Nor do I limit myself to any particular construction as to the knife, provided it is placed in an inclined position with reference to the other functional parts and is combined with any practical equivalent of the guide 0. Thus, for example, the knife may be provided with a backward-projecting end,'or, what is substantially the same, withau angular notch, sharpened at both the bottom and top, whereby the leather may be out both from above and below.

WVhile such modifications may in some cases be desirable, however, I find'the form shown, and hereinbefore described, to answer per.- fectly the purpose designed, and to be under all ordinary circumstances the most practical.

What 1 claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a device for cutting belt-laces, the con1- bination, with the knife fixed to the body in an inclined position, as described, of a rigid guide in fixed contact with the edge of the said knife and forming an angle with it, substantially as described, whereby the leather in its passage is held down upon the knifeedge and necessarily out completely through, as set forth.

2. The combination, with the knife B, fixed to the body in an inclined position, and-the guide 0, in fixed contact with the edge of *substantially as described, for the purpose set said knife, of the gage D, substantially as de forth. scribed, and for the purpose set forth.

3. The device consisting of the combina- STERLING ELLIOTT tion of the following elements, viz: the body In presence of A, having the ring a, knife B, guide 0, and H. E. VVOOKEY,

gage D, constructed and arranged to operate E. F. MERRILL. 

